Gylfi Sigurdsson needs the help of his team-mates for him to establish himself as an Everton favourite.

The Icelandic international arrived in a £45m move in 2017, but has only found himself playing out of position and has only been playing in his preferred number 10 position under new manager Marco Silva this term.

The 29-year-old scored his first goal of the new season on Sunday with a header which proved to the only real highlights for the Blues as they lost 3-1 to West Ham at Goodison Park on Sunday.

And former Blues winger Pat Nevin has backed the “spectacularly special” Sigurdsson to thrive at Everton this season, as long as his team-mates keep making intelligent runs in front of him report the Liverpool Echo .

“It is the dream scenario, really, for him to be playing with the likes of Richarlison, Walcott and Bernard,” Nevin told evertonfc.com .

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“If he has got that pace and movement in front of him, his quality can come to the fore.

“What he needs is attacking players making intelligent runs because he will find them. And I think if Cenk Tosun keeps making the type of runs he is doing, then goals will come for him, too.

“The good thing for players like Tosun and the other forward players is - when they now they have someone of Sigurdsson’s ability in the side - they will make those runs more often and the ball will land at their feet. I think people enjoy playing with Sigurdsson.

Gylfi Sigurdsson looks on during the group D match between Argentina and Iceland at Spartak Stadium (Image: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

“His set-piece delivery is just extraordinary, too. We all know about his free-kicks and, of course, he can arrive late into the box and score goals. He is a real special player.”

However, it’s not just Sigurdsson’s creativity that is impressive.

The attacking midfielder also puts in a massive amount of work-rate, covering a lot of ground whenever he’s on the pitch for Everton , and Nevin believes supporters will love that aspect of his game.

He added: “Nobody can look at him and think ‘you’re not putting the effort in’. If he has to sacrifice himself for more defensive duties, he will do it. That’s obviously not where he can do the most damage but he’ll do what’s best for the team.

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“If a player is putting in the miles and the effort, it doesn’t go unnoticed. It doesn’t even have to be tackling, it could just be getting into an area to close things down. That comes down to match awareness and football intelligence.

“You can get some creative players who just don’t put the effort in and it winds me up to be honest. They are not maximising their talent.

“The really top players don’t slack off. You want players who work hard week after week and certainly Gylfi Sigurdsson certainly does that.”